I recently picked up a new set of toys: Extension Tubes.

I don’t have a picture of the tubes themselves, but I do have a collection of pictures from the from the first test run. Have a look:

I don’t have a picture of the extension tubes, but if you are wondering what it is they do here is a brief explanation.

Extension tubes sit between the rear of the lens and the body of the camera. What they do is reduce the minimum focusing distance of the lens, virtually making any lens a macro lens. Well, any lens with which they are compatible. Which isn’t every lens, by any stretch of the imagination. It is a relatively inexpensive way to play with macro photography without dropping a several Franklins.

It can also be used to turn a macro lens into a super macro lens.

Most of the pictures were taken with a lens that isn’t macro. The flower pictures were taken with a lens that was already macro.

The negative of extension tubes is you lose light (sometimes up to 3 stops) and they severely limit the focal range of your lens. But they sure are fun!

For example, the frog in the frog picture is about the size of a quarter. The pansies are also a little bit bigger than a quarter. More like a 50 cent piece. I’m sure these fun new toys will come in handy in about… oh 4 more weeks! If I was psychic.